(Volume I) Beyond Reach Of Jerusalem, Rome . - Sweet Gospel Harmony

Transcription

A way out trilogy,a way out of our religious,political And personal predicaments,and a way back,taking back our religio-nationalheritage – also – our personal spaceH.PartI–theD.nazareneKaIlInwayout(Volume I) Beyond reach of Jerusalem, Rome, Geneva, stood the Orientalist(Volume II) Beyond the canonical gospels exists a Nazarene narrative gospelpartII–amerIca‘swayoutThree men with power: Washington, Jefferson, and FranklinThree women of valor: Tubman, Winnemuca, and LiliuokalanipartIII–myownwayoutGullible’s Travels: 50 years a Zionist, now seeking to make amends

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TableofContentstitle page / table of contents 1 - 4The Orientalist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 5Discoverer of ancient texts / Humanitarian ideal . . . . . . p. 7The liberal / conservative dichotomy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 8Section I: Oracles and TestimoniaLogion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Deeds, words, prophecy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Prophecy and fulfilment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John and the Testimonia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .The Meek One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .How the O. T. influenced the New . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy . . . . . .Oberlin lecture on the Testimonia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .The 3rd version of Testimonia is the the Church’s . . . .The Great O’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Though few, the laborers are worthy . . . . . . . . . . . . . .The Dead Sea Scroll testimony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Nonsense is lionized / truth is left an orphan . . . . . . . .Extracts from Meito’s Testimony Book . . . . . . . . . . . . .The Influence of the Tesimonia on the Gospel text . . .The Magi, Herod and prophetic fulfilment . . . . . . . . . . .Dialogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A possible cause of chronological discrepancy . . . . . .p.10p. 11p. 11p. 14p. 14p. 15p. 18p. 20p. 22p. 24p. 25p. 34p. 45p. 50p. 51p. 53p. 55p. 57Section II: The record of mighty words, mighty deedsCanonicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .The Nazarene Bible . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Author of Hebrews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A Nazarene Narrative Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .MS 2498 as an abbreviating text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Fragments from the Hebrew Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A historical turning point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Reconstructing Gospel chronology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Powerful Acts / Incisive teachings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Matthew and the Gospel to the Hebrews . . . . . . . . . .A Hebraic source for both Matthew and Luke . . . . . . .Luke the Evangelist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .James the Just, his role in the synoptic tradition . . . . .James’s Hebrew Matthew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Enoch and the fourfold gospel tradition . . . . . . . . . . . .John Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 60p. 63p. 65p. 70p. 75.p 78p. 80p. 80p. 81p. 84p. 86p. 87p. 88p. 89p. 92p. 93Doublets in Mark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 96Errancy or inerrancy? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 96Synoptic merry-go-round . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 97Comparing text to text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 98A Nazarene reference in Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 100The Diatessaron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 101Vulgatization and harmonization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 102Plooij’s prologue to the Liége Diatessaron . . . . . . . . . p. 103The Orientalist looks westward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 104Pelagius and Nestorius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 107Theodor of Tarsus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 108Christ our example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 111Section III: Linguistic IssuesThe language of proclamation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .The suitability of Aramaic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Linguistic cousins: Aramaic and Syriac . . . . . . . . . . .From Aramaic to Greek and back again . . . . . . . . . . .The suitability of Hebrew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .The suitability of Greek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .The Semitic style of the New Testament . . . . . . . . . .Written on the fly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Expectations of Jesus’ soon return . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .People of the Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Peter with a little help from his friends . . . . . . . . . . . .Theories of Inspiration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Churchly emendation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .All writing is rewriting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Memoirs of the apostles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Late 1st and early 2nd century synoptic quotes . . . . . .Justin, the Didache & Pseudo-Clementine . . . . . . . . .Harmonization: our coming into the good of it . . . . . .The Logia of Matthew in the Gospel of Mark . . . . . . .Jerusalem’s Nazarene community – R.I.P. . . . . . . . .Old texts / new discoveries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .”Logia” and the Gospels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Non-canonical gospels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 113p. 114p. 115p. 115p. 116p. 117p. 117p. 118p. 119p. 120p. 120p. 121p. 122p. 122p. 123p. 126p. 127p. 129p. 130p. 145p. 146p. 148p. 155Section IV: Buddhist ChristianityOur Judeo-Buddhist heritage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 160The prodigious father from a Buddhist perspective . . p. 161

Commentary on the Odes and select Odes . . . . . . . .The subversion of Christianity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .The luckiest man in the world . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Theraputae . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Never the twain shall meet? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John the Baptist, the Mandaean connection . . . . . . .Dharma and Didache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .The story of the Buddha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Gospel of Thomas, a Buddhist gospel? . . . . . . . . . . .The imagery of baptism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .The waters of purification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .God our mikva . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Baptismal Testimonia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Mary and James: the Elevated and the Just . . . . . . .Jesus’ right hand and his left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Mary and James in prophecy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .James, the brother of Jesus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .James the Tsadik . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Eschatological High Priest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .The burial shroud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Living in community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Martyrdom in Jerusalem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Pure religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Mary Magdalene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .From whence cometh the title “Magdalene”? . . . . . . .Daughter of Zion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Bride of Christ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .The cry of the penitent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Did the Magdalene produce a gospel account? . . . . .A family account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Deeds of James the Just . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .The Gospel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Putting the Gospel front and center . . . . . . . . . . . . . .The narrative of power / the power of example . . . . .How much is “all”? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .To whom Good News is bad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Gender equality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .The Little Flock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A threefold Gospel witness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .The witness of Philip, the evangelist . . . . . . . . . . . . .Peter, the evangelist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Hellenization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Paul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Mother Mary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Barnabas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Obey? Obey not! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 164p. 168p. 171p. 179p. 183p. 184p. 188p. 191p. 205p. 210p. 212p. 213p. 215p. 216p. 217p. 218p. 218p. 220p. 221p. 222p. 224p. 226p. 226p. 227p. 229p. 231p. 232p. 232p. 234p. 235p. 242p. 251p. 252p. 253p. 255p. 256p. 258p. 261p. 262p. 263p. 266p. 267p. 269p. 272p. 272p. 273Was the author of Hebrews in exile? . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 274Community/Congregation/Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 275Ekklesia: the way out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p. 276Section IV: CovenantTo Abraham, God said . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .He will be mindful of His Covenant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Qualified promises to qualified people . . . . . . . . . . . .The narrow way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Continuity or discontinuity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .“Nazarene” means “Branch” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Defining “Israel” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ingathering of the dispossessed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Wrongly dividing the word of truth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Breaking down the wall of separation . . . . . . . . . . . . .Blessing Abraham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .The works of Abraham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Father Abraham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 281p. 285p. 285p. 287p. 287p. 290p. 292p. 299p. 300p. 301p. 302p. 303p. 304Section V: Recognizing the problem, identifying solutionsOrigin of the Secret Rapture Doctrine . . . . . . . . . . . .Rothschild ambition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Let’s you and him fight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .The Zionist Bomb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .More about Baruch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Winston Churchill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Quote without comment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .God’s Zionism or Man’s? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Proxy Zionism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .The hidden roots of proxy Zionism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Blackstone’s memorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Charles Taze Russell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Simon bar Kokhba . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Temple envy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .The rise of Islam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .The third Temple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Occult faith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .The mark of the beast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Triumphalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .The Temple within . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Judaism is not spelled with a “Z” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Genociding the children of Israel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .The Jews of Iraq . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Two prodigal sons, one prodigious father . . . . . . . . . .Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p. 305p. 309p. 310p. 310p. 312p. 317p. 319p. 320p. 323p. 326p. 328p. 329p. 329p. 330p. 331p. 332p. 335p. 336p. 338p. 338p. 343p. 346p. 348p. 351p. 355

volumeT h eI:TheNazarenewayoutO r i e n t a l i s tGentlemen, go to the rising sun of the East, not to the setting sun of the West,if you wish to see Christ in the plenitude of his glory and in the fullness andfreshness of his divine life. Behold he comes to us in his loose flowing garments,his dress and features altogether oriental, a perfect Asiatic in everything.(Keshub Chandra Sen. Who Is Jesus Christ? Calcutta, 1919)Again, looking to the East, what do we see? That after 2000 year, as never before,the very land where believers were first called “Christian” is under attack. Not evenin the days of the Mongol invasion was it so but the Wicked Witch of the West and thedrone Abominator have whistled up Benghazi thugs whom they have bankrolled andarmed with AK 47s. As Aleppo burns, the evangelical churches hardly takes notice.(H. D. Kailin, 2013)

“Give us this day, Lord, our daily discovery.”J. Rendel Harris (1852-1941)“I do not think the central figure of Christianity or its central doctrine will be obscured by a careful restorationof the broken and almost lost fabric of its earliest literature.”(J. Rendel Harris)

dIscovererofancIenttextsBesides producing scholarship of a very high order, James Rendel Harris had an uncanny knack for discovering long-lost, Christian texts, including the Odes of Solomon; also,a Syriac version of the Apology of Aristides. In his essay: “Methods of Research in EasternLibraries,” he tells us how he did it, that being the old fashioned way by properly earningthe trust of his Middle Eastern hosts. Other Westerners, contemptuous of their technicallyless advanced brethren in the East, had a way of running roughshod over them and nonemore so than Count von Tishendorf who, a generation before, had justified his purloiningthe Codex Sinaiticus from the monastic library at Mt. Sinai on the grounds that his hostscouldn’t be trusted to value or preserve it, this despite their having preserved it for at least a1200 years. Although the monastery’s head librarian had specially loaned it to him, vonTishendorf claimed that he had rescued it out of a waste bin. Wrote Harris:Now a person who is going to work in Eastern libraries must undergo a certain amount of preliminary training.He must have a few ideas about his work, and the people he is to work with, a reasonable amount of currency,some knowledge of modern Greek and a superfluity of good manners. As I am usually weak on the firsttwo heads and not a colossus in Greek, I endeavour to make up in courtesy what I want in linguistics, orin backsheesh! It is a delusion to suppose that you are going amongst a degraded set of people when youvisit a Greek monastery. Dr Schaff, who visited the Sinai convent, speaks of them in one of his books asa set of dirty monks who could not read the documents which they possessed. It would probably be equallytrue that the party to which Dr Schaff belonged were a set of dirty tourists; certainly as regards knowledge,the monks are not to be derided, for they still take a pleasure in showing their visitor’s book in which Dr Schaffhas transcribed incorrectly the Nicene Creed. The great question of like is not whether we have used Pears’Soap this morning, but whether we have said our credo rightly and whether we have washed our handsin innocency. And as for the question of knowledge, my own experience is that I frequently tested the librarianat [Mount] Sinai on the matter of dates of Greek MSS and seldom found him at fault; yet he had never readany treatise on palaeography, and he could not have stolen his knowledge from Gardthausen’s Cataloguesof the MSS, for he had confessed to me somewhat sadly, Prof. Gardthausen, who had enjoyed the hospitalityof the Convent for several months, did not send them a copy of the Catalogue.humanItarIanA humanitarian of the first water, Harris, when not ferreting out lost biblical texts, teaching, researching, or writing, was actively involved in missionary relief work, particularly inconjunction with the Society of Friends. Beginning in 1896, his efforts were focused on theplight of the Armenians, to whom he and his beloved wife, Helen, made repeated, extendedvisits, helping them rebuild their devastated communities.

On November 16th, 1916, at the height of WWI, Harris departed by steamship from Liverpool bound for India. Ten days later, off of Malta, his ship was sent to the bottom, torpedoed by a U-boat. Rescued some hours later by a passing ship, he ended up in Alexandria,Egypt where he commenced finding ancient, two thousand-year-old papyri offered for saleby local farmers who had dug them up in the course of their labors. This valuable collectionended up eventually at the Rylands Library in Manchester. Again, April, 1917, Harris shipped out for Marseilles, France but, again, his ship was sent to the bottom by a U-boat. Thistime he was four grueling days at sea in a lifeboat. Sharing the raft with him, among others,was his friend, fellow traveler, and distinguished scholar, James Hope Moulton, who, alas,tragically succumbed. On coming ashore in Corsica, Harris was greeted by the local priestwho exclaimed: “It is the orientalist!” Harris’s reputation had preceded him.thelIberal/conservatIvedIchotomyNot one easily pigeon-holed, Harris stood apart from a Protestant fundamentalism whichtoo often mistakes credulity for belief and therefore rejects scholarship. As well, he stoodapart from Christian modernism, which too often mistakes scepticism for critical thinking thatrequires disbelief. The secret of Harris’ success was his combining the best of scholarshipwith Faith in God. As he wrote:As we learn to live the life of dependence upon the Lord, we must be not surprised if a great deal ofour early theology drops off. . . . I am amazed to find how much of true religion may be resolved intothat one word ‘dependence.’With regard to his literalistically-minded, fundamentalist critics, Harris wrote:. . . they cannot steal from us the truth of immediate Revelation and direct communication with God, whichwas before the Scripture, and was the cause of them. We have been told in these meetings [the ManchesterConference of 1895 a meeting of liberal and conservative religious factions] that the Scriptures are the ultimatetest of truth; if that un-Quakerly proposition be true, the criticism of them is a gross impertinence; but theinternal discords of all Scriptures, ought to be enough to convince us that we have no infallibility in the house,not a drop. [But] while we have no infallibility, we have some splendid probabilities, and one of them inparticular is of such high order that we call it “The certainty of love, which sets our hearts at rest.”Regarding Harris’s manner of teaching, Rufus Jones wrote:His method of teaching was unique and peculiar to himself. The student never knew in advance withwhat the next lecture would deal, and the marvelous man carried them on wings as eagles from onepeak of truth to another across continents and athwart the centuries as though he were at home in allages and in all lands.

The oracle says that God will not hide from the man dear to Him amystery that is hidden and secret to many, but will reveal it to him.(Eusebius)O R A C L E SandT E S T I M O N I A“This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”(Luke 4:21)or’a.cles, n.; pl. [L. oraculum, to speak] 1. The utterances of God, particularlyas found in Holy Writ, often having prophetic, messianic import.tes’ti.mo’ni.a, n.; pl. [L. testimonium, witness]1. An extract or collection ofthe Oracles of God. 2. The argument from prophecy that Jesus is the Messiah.Jesus wanted his disciples to have faith informed by truth; thus, in the interval betweenhis resurrection and ascension, he conducted, as it were, a six-week, non-vocational Biblecourse in which he revealed to his listeners oracles in the Scripture pertaining to himself,which oracles Matthew record and which the Nazarenes then circulated as Testimonia.

logIonIn Greek, the word for “word” is logos. A related word is “logion.” Whereas “logos”could be speech either human or divine, “logion” is reserved for divine speech and is always, exclusively God speaking to man. Thus do we find it in the Septuagint (the GreekBible) and thus do we find it more generally in classical Greek. But whether occurring in adream, a vision, or spoken aloud, logion is heavenly-derived knowledge. Depending oncontext, subsumed under logion is God’s Covenant, His Law, His prophecies, and/or Hisjudgments.If any man speak, let him speak as oracles [logion] of God. (I Peter 4:11)Peter and the other apostles, albeit unlearned fishermen, boldly expressed their Faith tothe world. The boldness came from the Spirit, but the learnedness came from Jesus whoopened their eyes to those things in Scripture pertaining to himself.The Christian patriarch, Papias, who flourished before 140 AD, made reference to Matthew’s “Exposition of Dominical Oracles.” Scholars widely assumed that this was a reference to Jesus’ sayings but, beginning in the late 19th century, certain scholars began to seethis as applying not to saying by Jesus, but, rather, as applying to sayings about Jesus. . . for while the citation of the oracles is sometimes definite, it is sometimes indefinite, as in John 738 “asthe scripture saith,” and sometimes, again, where there is no mark of citation at all, they are assumed.They had been under my attention for many years before the conclusion was forced upon me that I wasdealing with Logia, oracles of the selfsame sort as those which Papius (about 120 A.D.) says were collectedby Matthew in Hebrew. I then saw that by “dominical oracles” Papias meant oracles about the Lord Christ. . . and not, as nearly all writers have hitherto supposed, sayings by the Lord Jesus.(Edward Selwyn)Four instances exist of the use of the word “oracles” [logion] in the New Testament. SaidStephen’s to his captors just before they stoned him to death:And he [Moses] received living oracles [logion] to pass on to you.(Acts 7:38)Paul also spoke of the oracles:What advantage then hath the Jew? Or what profit is there in circumcision? Much every way:chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles [logion] of God.(Romans 5:1-2)As well, the author of Hebrews spoke of the oracles:For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, that ye nave need one teach you again whichbe the first principles of the oracles [logion] of God; and are become such as have need of milk,and not of strong meat.(Hebrews 5:12)

deeds,words,prophecy“Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are cometo pass there in these days?”(Luke 24:18)The question above, asked with evident astonishment, carries with it the barely veiled implication that one would have to be quite out of the loop not to know about recently transpired events. The inquirer was Cleopas and this was the third day since his promising nephew, Jesus, had died, seemingly ignominiously, by impalement. Now unsettling reports werecropping up that certain individuals had seen him alive. After observing that Jesus hadshown himself “a prophet mighty in deed and word,” Cleopas then confessed his disappointment, saying: “but we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel.”Though Jesus’s messiahship was more demonstrated than announced, Cleopas treated itas a matter of public record. From this we gather that the phenomenon of Jesus’ fame rested on more than words and deeds, no matter how mighty. Perhaps some other dynamicwas at work which had brought him to prominence, namely, the prophetic Scriptures. People wanted to know, was Jesus actually fulfilling those prophecies indicating that he was theMessiah, the hope of Israel or not? The messianic question was the burning issue of the day.Suddenly the tables were turned and Cleopas found himself on the hot seat. “O fools,and slow of heart to believe all the prophets have spoken,” gravely intoned the stranger,who then proceeded to ask: “ought not Messiah to have suffered these things, and to enterinto his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, the stranger expoundedunto them in all the Scriptures things concerning the Messiah, which things he expectedCleopas to know and was disappointed to find out that he did not.What we now know, as confirmed by the Dead Sea Scrolls, is that prophetic texts, called“Oracles,” had been bundled together by the scribes to form “Testimony Books.” Organized by subject heading, they helped make clear what otherwise might have remained obscureregarding the time and place of messianic visitation, also of the nature of the Messiah himself,thus materially contributing to the quickening tempo of national messianic consciousness.The common folk heard Jesus gladly, not because they were Bible scholars but becausethe Testimonia had been circulated widely throughout the land, and thus they were awaketo the possibilities. Our contention is that Jesus, knowing this, had self-consciously goneabout doing those things as would meet the common folk’s scripturally-justified expectations.As for the visitation itself, in various respects it went quite badly in that Jesus was roundlyrejected by the religious leadership, then impaled. But with his resurrection, Jesus’ followerswere emboldened to give their oral witness, which they then buttressed with written accounts.

But antecedent to the apostles speaking or writing, the Testimonia had already done thework of heralding the good news of Jesus and God’s Kingdom, for Testimonia and Gospelare but two sides of the same coin. In symbiotic relationship, they are mutually reinforcing.Unlike the Book of Mormon, the Nazarene gospels did not drop down from the heavens,afterward to be transcribed with the help of the angel Moroni. Rather, they had been worked up from previous documentary material, allowing the evangelists to trace the trajectory ofJesus’ life from Bethlehem to Calvary by a meticulously worked-out, scriptural framework.By reason of his multi-faceted life and ministry, many hands and eyes were required to record Jesus’ transit through this world. As well, many hands and eyes were required to develop the Testimonia, to capture the broad scope of it.Although appearing to be irretrievably lost, the Testimonia was substantially recovered inthe early part of the 20th century by some of the century’s most distinguished and accomplished scholars. Not many years later, with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, in the late1940's and 50's their bold deduction was largely vindicated, as well, another bold deductionof J. Rendel Harris’s, that there had once existed a sayings gospel, for just before the DeadSea Scrolls came to the light of day, so also did the Nag Hammadi texts. Though these weremostly of a Gnostic character, they also include the Gospel of Thomas which contains precious original saying of Jesus. With amazing foresight, J. Rendel Harris in 1916 wrote:It has been my habit for some time past, to warn my students that the Christian literature doesnot necessarily begin with the New Testament, and certainly not with the Gospels; that there aretraces of previous documentary matter on which the accepted and canonical New Testamentdepends; and that, until we have learnt to recognize and isolate these primitive deposits, we shallconstantly be making mistakes in out interpretation of the New Testament and the Apostolic Fathers.And, in particular I tell them that there are two lost documents of the early Christian propaganda,occurring in various forms, sufficiently alike to constitute a cycle or type, the traces of which areto be found constantly in the first period of the literature of the Church. . . . Of these the first is theCollection of the Sayings of Jesus, the second is the Book of Testimonies from the Old Testament.The first of these underlies the Gospels, and is especially an instrument for the conversion of theGentiles: the second is an instrument for the refutation of the Jews. . . . when we have reduced ourprejudices in favor of the antiquity of the Gospels to more sober limits, we shall ultimately agreewell enough as to the Book of Sayings and its antiquity and value.(J. Rendel Harris, Testimonies, vol. 1, 1916)

prophecyandfulfIlmentA careful examination of the Gospels shows that they contain much ‘submerged testimony matter.(B. P. W. Stather Hunt, Primitive Gospel Sources)From the discovery of Testimonia literature amongst the Dead Sea Scrolls, we know thatthis genre was no Nazarene invention but a cycle of literature fostering messianic consciousness which, in due course, served as a kind of midwife to the Nazarene movement. Beginning first with John the Baptist (also called “the Forerunner”), then with Jesus, the Nazarenes added to the Testimonia their fulfilments. Thus did a new genre emerge, first called“gospel,” (insofar as we know) by Justin Martyr. Note: the Testimonia were not written toconfirm the gospels; rather, the gospels were written to confirm the Testimonia.Testimonies, in the early Christian sense of the word, are, on one side, very nearly equivalent to quotations;but from another point of view, the

(Volume II) Beyond the canonical gospels exists a Nazarene narrative gospel part I I - a m e r I c a ' s w a y o u t Three men with power: Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin Three women of valor: Tubman, Winnemuca, and Liliuokalani part I I I - m y o w n w a y o u t Gullible's Travels: 50 years a Zionist, now seeking to make amends .